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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



~F EB] ; 



Chap. Copyright No. 

Wi 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



1b 2 m n 5 



1b o \x x s. 



I love Thee, Father, not because 
This is Thy sovereign will, 

Because Thy hand created me 
With true and loving skill. 

I love Thee, not because with Thee 
Abideth strength and health, 

Because Thy favour makes men great 
And blesses them with wealth. 

I love Thee for Thy purity, 

Thy purity of fire, 
Whose flames ascend for evermore 

In infinite desire. 

I love Thee for Thy face serene, 
Whose beauty glows with light, 

Reflecting all the fragrant prayers 
That rise from out our night. 

I love Thee, Father, for Thy love, 

I know not how nor why; 
I only know I yield to Thee 

A love that cannot die. 



^ymns for tt)c fyo\xx& 



OF DAY AND NIGHT. 



A SEQUENCE OF 
DEVOTIONAL SONNETS. 



KENNETH SYLVAN GUTHRIE, Ph. D. 



" 






Philadelphia : 
GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO. « 

103 South Fifteenth Street. ft ^ 




c 



• 



I** 



Copyright, 1896, 

by 

Kenneth S. Guthrik. 



Contents. 



Forenoon 7 

Afternoon 21 

Evening 35 

Morning 49 



COMING. 

The fairest harmonies are those that come 
Unsought, descending gently from on high 
Like cooling dew, to still the fragrant cry 
Of saints by adoration overcome. 

The noblest songs of man are not his own : 
They burst through lips that have been 

cleansed by fire, 
From glories traveling to heights still higher, 
Never to rest until before the throne. 

No human singer ever did create 
A veritable song. It is the song 
From all eternity unsung that seeks 

Sufficient purity to incarnate. 

Hence, if a man would sing, let him but 

long 
For God ; and it is God, not he, that speaks. 



HYMNS FOR THE 
FORENOON. 



FIRST WATCH OF DAY. 

THE AIM OF LIFE. 



First Half-Hour .... 


. . . 6.00 A.M 


Second Half-Hour . . . 


. 63O 


Third Half- Hour ... 


. . . 7.OO 


Fourth Half-Hour . . . . 


. . . 7.3O 


Fifth Half-Hour 


. . . 8.00 


Sixth Half-Hour 


. . . 8.30 



SECOND WATCH OF DAY. 

THE INSUFFICIENCY OF THIS LIFE. 



First Half-Hour 9.00 a.m. 

Second Half- Hour 9.30 

Third Half- Hour 10.00 

Fourth Half Hour 10.30 

Fifth Half-Hour 11.00 

Sixth Half- Hour 1 1. 30 



FIRST IV A TCH OF DA V. 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

We know not who we are, we struggling 

souls, 
Who live this earthly life of smiles and tears, 
Of sleep and labour, sorrow, joys and fears, 
Now strong voting gods, now swine whom 

lust controls. 

At times, when we recall the words of youth 
We see in them strange glories, now re- 
vealed, 
But then declared in ignorance, and sealed 
Unto the hearts that spoke them forth as 
truth. 

We know not who we are, nor who we were, 
Nor who, in consummation, we shall be : 
Vestiges faint of glories not of earth 

Are faith's sharp spurs to souls who feel the 

stir 
Within their womb, of spirits strong and 

free, 
Learning to claim the visions due their birth. 



HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

The heart of man will not believe the whole- 
Creation groans and travails in its pain 
Together until now, to bear, in vain, 
A still-born hope to manifest a soul. 

The sonl of man will not believe that all 
Her year-long sorrows were but deadening 

dreams 
Of horror, driven through her life by streams 
Of eddying chance ; herself, a rolling ball. 

The mind of man will not believe the life 
Of all humanity has not some end 
Transfiguring each life with purpose, till 

Eternity should hold each soul's small strife,. 
And every single soul should learn to blend 
Into the complex whole of God's great WilL 



FIRST WA TCH OF DA V. 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

If such an end exist, what can it be ? 

Not strength, not wealth, for none must be 

debarred, 
And man}- are the weak, and poor, and 

marred ; 
Not mastery, for many are not free. 

Not male or female occupations, since 

Both man and woman must attain the same 

Divinity, and both must claim 

The right an equal courage to evince. 

What then is common to the human race? 
Duty, and selflessness, and lustless love, 
Such as the angels bear to babes that die 

Ere Heaven's brightness fade from off their 

face ; 
This is the common end of man, to look, 

above 
Man's own fair stars, to God's eternal sky. 



HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

The end of man is God. The destiny 
Of every human soul is to be made 
Like Him in living glory, when the shade 
Of earth shall have been lost in brighter day. 

And as the love of God is so intense 
That God Himself were not complete without 
Some human want to fill, some human doubt 
To crown with certitude through chastened 
sense, 

Just so the human soul were not complete 
Without some reaching out in vague unrest 
Into that realm where human will is grace 

Divine ; where sundered souls may meet, 
Where real manhood is the Vision blest, 
Now dim and vague, then clear, then face to 
face. 



FIRST IV A TCH OF DA V 



13 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

Forgetful of the kingdom that awaits 
Our conquering love, we grovel in the dust, 
We play with toys, we dally with our lust, 
And trick ourselves contentedly with baits. 

And then, like waifs forsaken at the gates 
Of some ancestral, long-abandoned hall, 
When pain is on us, bitterly we call 
Into the silence, till our life abates. 

Shall no great hope transfigure all our life 
With glories, and with might, and majesty? 
Shall no high destiny bid terrors cease 

Amidst the agonies of earthly strife? 
Shall we fore'er forget our home on high 
In light, in love, in everlasting Peace? 



j 4 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

The real life of man is lived alone 
Amidst the flaming hosts of kindred souls 
That surge in cosmic tides, and drift in shoals 
Of stranded life, in seas to sight unknown. 

At times, the nearest souls with prayer and 

tears 
Would fain live down the distance ; but 

though hands 
Clasp hands, an ocean sunders their two 

strands, 
And an eternity their inner spheres. 

For every spirit has his destiny 

That calls him out into the fuller light 

Of still a lonelier presence, till the sight 

Of God Himself, and His eternity, 
Until man's sight itself begin to cease, 
And naught remain but Love, and Light, 
and Peace. 



Here beginneth the Second Watch. 



SECOND IV A TCH OF DA Y. I5 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

We live our real lives alone, between 

The howling beast whose dwelling place we 

are, 
And the unborn Divinity, so far 
Beyond us, though so near, because unseen. 

From out this bitter loneliness we see 
That all that we accomplished was God's 

Will, 
Discerning by the Spirit's loving skill, 
Through dead events, God's voice of liberty. 

Such are the truths discerning hearts can 

find 
For consolation through the darksome night, 
Although to grosser eyes mere foolishness. 

Yet, if we taste of peace within God's mind, 
We pray to be deceived by error's might 
If such a darkness bear such perfectuess. 



i6 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

Who shall report what lies beyond the veil 
Of flesh? At times, man hears the mystic 

moan 
Of spirit-oceans round him, feels unknown 
Floods of intelligible fire. Then, pale 

And trembling, he believes that there must be 
Somewhat beyond his reach, somewhat be- 
low 
The depths of his desire. If this be so, 
Man's love must be a shadow to that sea 

Of light, whose smallest spark he deems 

Glorious enough to be the very end 

Of all. And if that be, beyond the grave, 

What waits for him, if he can breast its 

streams, 
Shall he not fiercely with himself contend, 
And gladly die his real self to save? 



SECOND WATCH OF DAY. ij 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

Were it quite just that every human soul 
Should have but oue existence on this earth, 
When want, and ignorance, and sinful birth 
Have barred so many out from self-control? 

The same perfecting peace must be the whole 
Creation's end : but patent is the dearth 
Of passing souls of a sufficient worth 
To see, at once, God's face : — the final goal. 

Sown in corruption in an earthly grave, 
The body may perhaps for ever die ; 
Raised in the tears and vows of wasted lives 

Each soul that has not won must once more 
brave 

These cosmic storms that sweep through 
laud and sky 

Where God shall make her strive till she re- 
vive. 



X 8 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

The pangs of death just stilled, the naked 

soul 
Helplessly hung amidst eternal night 
Shivering at void immensity. The whole 
Heavenly host had fled before death's might. 

With all her unrepented sins, her fears, 
The guilty soul stood powerless face to face; 
Now demons grown, they mocked her bitter 

tears, 
Her unmeant prayers, her hates, and her 

disgrace. 

44 Grant death, O God ! My sins have lit the 

morn 
Of Hell ! " The demons mocked, "There 

is no death ! " 
The soul was thrust to earth and once more 

born. 

God is the end of all that draweth breath : 
If one life bear not love, then God makes 

more, 
Till souls shall find His presence, and adore. 



SECOND IV A TCH OF DA Y. I9 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

* ' Give us the watch- word ! ' ' Guarding angels 

cry 
As upward flies a soul, but late sense-freed, 
Unto the fiery gates of stars, to plead 
For entrance to the mansions of the sky. 

" If thou have not lived into thine own eye 
By tears, by supplications, and by need 
The Light from which up here all things 

proceed, 
J3ven in Heaven thou could'st not God de- 
scry." 

The fearless soul recited then, in vain. 

The Creed her childhood's lip had learnt. 

She pled 
In vain all she had ever hoped to find above. 

Slowly the gates of fire began to wane, 
Weeping the angels passed away — One said 
""Go back to earth once more . . . and 
learn to love." 



HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

Not every soul that left the primal breast 
Of God, to actualize His love on earth, 
What time the morning stars sang out its 

birth, 
Shall certainly again attain His rest. 

The road is long, not measured out by days,. 
But centuries and yearnings and defeats ; 
The spirit-guidance, late vouchsafed to'heats- 
Of spirit-anguish, fails at every maze 

Of thoughtlessness and passion. Finally, 
The mere belief that there exists some rest 
Beyond these travails, leaves the soul in 
night 

Of purposeless despair at every cry. 
Not every soul that left the primal breast 
Of God, shall once more stand within His 
sight. 



HYMNS FOR THE 
AFTERNOON. 



THIRD WATCH OF DAY. 
PRAYER. 

First Half-Hour 12.00 m. 

Second Half-Hour 12.30 p.m.. 

Third Half- Hour 1.00 

Fourth Half-Hour 1.30 

Fifth Half-Hour 2.00 

Sixth Half-Hour 2.30* 



FOURTH WATCH OF DAY. 

DEVELOPMENT. 

First Half-Hour 3.00 p. M. 

Second Half-Hour 3.30 

Third Half-Hour 4.00 

Fourth Half- Hour 4.30 

Fifth Half-Hour 5.00 

Sixth Half-Hour 5.30 



THIRD IV A TCH OF DA Y. 23 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

How sad the messengers of God must be 
To find some human soul they came to lead 
Into a higher presence through her need, 
Self-satisfied, oblivious of the plea 

Herself had raised with passionate design 
To God ; and thus unable to receive 
Or even recognize the new reprieve 
Which her own prayers had wrung from 
Love divine. 

The misery of man's forgetting prayer 
Is nameless. Would to God we heard 
Forever threats of vengeance for the ill 

We have committed : but, that were too fair 
A road to Heaven ; we must guess God's 

word, 
And then remember Him, then do His Will. 



24 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

I know not if there be a sadder sight 

For purer eyes than ours, than souls whose 

prayers 
By tears were winged up Jacob's angel stairs 
And answered with intelligible light, 

Who use the Spirit's gifts to humiliate 
Themselves more deeply before flesh and 

blood, 
To worship death more thoroughly, till the 

flood 
Of bitter after-lust o'erwhelm with hate. 

How sad to clear the vision, but to see 
More of the evil camped around the soul ; 
How sad to cleanse the heart from earthly 
love 

To have more power to hate and disagree ; 
And this to chance by lack of self-control — 
By mere forgetting of the Home above ! 



THIRD WATCH OF DAY. 25 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

We never cease from prayer. Sooner, the fire 
Shall downward sweep its sparks, and thus 

transgress 
Its laws divine ; sooner the seas shall press 
Skywards, and quench the light the stars 

inspire. 

Desire is life, and life is but desire 
Interpreted by human consciousness : 
And so desire of some kind must possess 
The love-lit soul till she expire. 

The doubt is not whether or not we pray, 
But what the object of our prayer shall be ; 
Whether the object bring us peace at last, 

Or lead us further flesh-ward from the day, 
Nearer unconsciousness, — less free, — 
Less strong, less pure, — more bound unto 
the past. 



26 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

The Lord of Heaven at times must grow 

full sad 
(If sorrow may afflict a heart divine), 
To see His earthly children only glad 
When finding in their growth some hopeful 

sign. 

His mighty father-heart must yearn to beat 
Tremor to tremor with some instant prayer 
Raised by a needy heart, for comfort sweet 
To some less needy heart whose wounds 
gape bare. 

Those are the prayers which make God'& 

eyes more bright, 
God's Hand more powerful ; that make Him 

feel 
Himself more fully God within the sight 

Of angels grown more spiritual, who kneel 
In holier rapture of a holier love, 
And higher seek a higher height above. 



THIRD IV A TCH OF DA V. 2 J 

FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

It is not heaven that is closed or dead ; 

Our eyes are blind unto the hallowed host of 

light 
That camps around our dwelling day and 

night, 
To keep the demons from our heart and head. 

In every noble action we are led 

By guides who love us with God's heavenly 

might, 
Seeing in us alone the good and right 
Their purer eyes alone have ever read. 

With ceaseless supplications, cries, and 

tears — 
Stronger than ours, — they wait the destined 

day 
When w r e shall see God's beauty face to face — 

When we shall know what now our hopes 

and fears 
Prove and disprove ; when we shall feel the 

ray 
Of light intelligible crown His grace. 



2 8 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

Kneeling at mothers' knees with piety 

We heard of God, and Heaven, and Love, 

and Peace, 
And all those sweet strange words that never 

cease 
Like angels's words, to kindle purity. 

Nor do they fail in life's long misery ; 
They comfort still, from passion still release ; 
Still haunt the souls that strive not to de- 
crease 
In might of faith, of hope, of charity. 

No great foundation of the inner life 
Is learnt as new in age ; in early years 
The child absorbs, but cannot realize 

The final revelations which, in the strife 
Of selfishness subdued by pain and tears, 
Must crown the soul, and leave it pure and 
wise. 

Here beginneth the Fourth Watch. 



FOURTH WATCH CF DAY. 2 Q. 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

Forever breaking 011 her rock-girt shore 
There is no respite for the bitter sea 
Whose thousand voices rise incessantly 
Unto the sky above in thund'rous roar. 

Unless he be deaf-born, none can ignore 
Their sound ; except he turn and flee 
Until upon the mountain-summits, free, 
His voice alone resound, — the sea's no more.. 

So, when a man has striven year by year 
'Midst all the voices but to hear his own, 
It is no sign that God's has passed away 

From souls who live with Him, and hold 

Him dear. 
It is not God Whose light has dimmer grown. 
But man, who journeys self-ward from the 

day. 



HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

The miracles of God are still to-day 

As close man's heart as when the earth was 

young, 
Although th' apparent glories that then clung 
To altar and to cross have died away. 

The path from earthly night to heavenly day 
Can never change until an angel's tongue 
Proclaim a new divinity among 
New needs new human beings would display. 

And so, when man has failed in any task 
The Spirit had imposed upon his will, 
And easier tasks replace what seemed too 
hard, 

These are no shorter roads ; they merely ask 
For longer time to make man's passions still, 
Since victories hasten, and since falls retard. 



FOURTH WATCH OF DAW ^ 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

Sad is the da)' on which an aging soul 
First wakens to some cosmic harmony 
Which wooes no answering ecstasy 
Within herself. Vainly she feels its roll, 

Mastered again by all her still-born dreams, 
Trembling again with passionate desires 
To vibrate passively unto the fires 
Of elemental being's restless streams. 

She would not grieve, if she but knew the 

day 
Was fast approaching, when on joyful wing 
She should ascend from outlier youth's poor 

choice : 

No more a universal symphony, 
Lost in the song the morning stars still sing ; 
Now one clear, single tone, of God's own 
Voice. 



32 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

There is no sadder sight than men of age 
Who, looking for the glories of their life, 
Are forced to turn once more unto the strife 
Divine, which in their youth they dared to- 
wage, 

But which, as years wore on, they were afraid 

To carry to successful issue, lest 

They should thereby lose power, wealth or 
rest ; 

Or which they just forgot through prosper- 
ous trade. 

If man would but not waste his precious. 

might, 
The highest God Himself would incarnate 
Within the heart-strings of His creature's. 

prayer, 

Would crown the forehead with the halo's 

light, 
Would cleanse the eyes until they saw the 

great 
And glorious majesty man too should share.. 



FOURTH WATCH OF DA Y. 33 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

In silent majesty the dying sun 
On frozen darkness breathes his living light, 
Throbbing with all his destiny's delight 
To give out life before his course be run. 

No world is barred the joy that he has won, 
If it will but abandon distant night, 
To come and breathe within his sea of might, 
And spread God's light as he before had 



God is so good, no prayer could make Him 

change 
For better gifts the joys He has bestowed : 
But man can change himself; may draw full 

near, 

To God's transfiguring love, or may estrange 
God's messengers, and feel the brutish load 
Of Vengeance weigh him down from hope 
to fear. 



34 if Y MAS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

Because the sky in blue magnificence 
Glows through the ages 'round God's starry 

frame, 
Men deem it calm, ignoring the acclaim 
Of cosmic storms, and their fierce vehemence. 

Because man's body, like the world of sense 
Remains from day to day almost the same, 
He deems his mental states likewise may 

claim 
A dead inertia, endless, restless, tense. 

Deep in the depths the tides of life both flow 
And ebb unceasingly. Their sough foretells 
In harmonies prophetic, weird and low, 

The mysteries of God, Whose love impels 
In waves still partial, human joy and woe, 
To woo the soul wherein His imasfe dwells. 



HYMNS FOR THE 
EVENING. 



FIRST WATCH OF NIGHT. 

THE LANDS BEYOND. 



First Half-Hour . 
Second Half-Hour 
Third Half-Hour . 
Fourth Half-Hour 
Fifth Half-Hour . 
Sixth Half-Hour . 



6.00 P.M. 

6.30 

7.00 

7.30 

8.00 

8.30 



SECOND WATCH OF NIGHT. 

DEATH. 



First Half-Hour 9.00 p. M. 

Second Half-Hour 9.30 

Third Half-Hour 10.00 

Fourth Half- Hour 10.30 

Fifth Half-Hour 11.00 

Sixth Half-Hour 1130 



FIRST WATCH OF NIGHT 37 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

In what glad ages wert thou born, O Soul, 
That thou art dreaming still on earth of 

peace, 
When thou art caught in wheels that cannot 

cease, 
The cosmic surge of suns, the planets' roll? 

To what glad ages art thou destined, Soul, 
That thou art hoping still on earth for light, 
When brave men faint amidst the gathering 

night, 
And strong men fail of even self-control? 

From what glad ages hast thou come to me 
Into the realms of weariness and lust ? 
To what glad ages art thou destined still, 

Forsaking stream, and laud, and sky, and 

sea? 
Thy puritv could not be born of dust, 
It could not end in aught but God's great 

Will. 



38 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

On many planes souls mingle. At times 

they meet 
As flesh to flesh, when either startled soul 
In humiliation flees the flesh's control : 
Degrading victory, or base defeat. 

As mind to mind some souls each other greet, 
With earnest questionings, which, not the 

whole 
Of due communion, still approach the goal 
Of bodies meeting as the spirit's seat. 

But when the eyes instinct with love divine 
Seek kindred spirits, and in love contend 
To purify week souls that still have need, 

Then man at length finds his own self divine, 
Then God will crown men's foreheads as 

they bend 
To His great Will of love in thought and 

deed. 



FIRST WATCH OF NIGHT. -q 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

Th' external world is neither good nor bad. 
The ocean cannot love, nor can it trust ; 
No moral qualities attach to dust, 
To air, to rain, to mountains verdure-clad. 

Unto the weary soul all things are sad, 
Unto the pure all things are pure and just ; 
All things are base unto the eye of lust, 
All things bring blessings to the true and 
glad. 

And so, if man finds evil on this earth, 
It is within himself that it exists 
As he misused his opportunities ; 

The saint sees God in everything of worth, 
A dazzling beaut}' which no soul resists, 
A satisfying maze of harmonies. 



40 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 

FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

Heaven and Hell ! Weird facts in well-worn 

name ! 
Unseen, unheard, still known and hoped and 

feared ; 
Changing with every age, and yet the same, 
As close to-day as when man first appeared. 

Men see in others what themselves they are. 
The sun were gloom, were not the eye first 

light : 
The lustling deems men brutes from beasts 

not far, 
The saint sees God's own image through all 

blight. 

Hell is perhaps the curse forevermore, 
Helpless to interfere, to watch this life 
And only see what we once felt before — 

Blindness and failure, pain, and hate, and 
strife. 

Heaven, to see young souls each day new- 
born, 

Iyoving and calm, awaiting faith's great 
morn. 



FIRST WA TCH OF NIGHT. 4I 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

Heaven is not a place beyond the glare 
Of deepest star, to which with magic flight 
The sense-freed soul is wafted through the 

night 
Of death by some kind angel's watchful care . 

No ! heaven is the present memory 

Of all the loving acts our wavering soul 

May have conceived and purposed with the 

whole 
Of her intensest love-capacity. 

Which soul, when off her earthly husks shall 

fall, 
Will stand in all her native dignity 
Before the highest presence that her love 

On earth have made her able to recall, 
Singing the holiest chant her purity 
Awakens at the sight of God above. 



42 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

Eternity ! which one of us shall ever know 
How long, how near, how spiritual thou art r 
How bestially we live frorn thee apart, 
How wilfully we languish, dying slow ! 

For we believe that thou art peace, although 
We cannot yet conceive thy counterpart ; 
Mere harps and palms can never crown a 

heart, 
External glories are but passing show. 

Perhaps the angels' crown shall be the cares 
Of souls that have not yet passed on from 

earth 
Made holier by a willingness to die ; 

Perhaps the angels' palm shall be the prayers 
Offered through saints still struggling for 

new birth, 
Presented by themselves once more on high. 

Here beginneth the Second Watch. 



SECOND WA TCH OF NIGHT. 43 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

Somewhere beyond the stars must be a land 
Shrouded in sombre calmness, where the 

light 
Of suns cannot bring gladness nor at night 
The pallid moon refresh the weary strand. 

In leaguered hosts still spirits [round it stand, 
While tearful sobs and prayers, and cries unite 
In one tumultuous passion-hymn their 

might — 
Wild sounds that God alone can understand. 

It is the land in which our still-born prayers,. 
Forgotten aspirations, loves, and pains, 
Await the consummation of all things. 

Who knows but at the last the God of cares 
Will crown, for every soul when she attains 
With her forgotten life the love she brings? 



4^ HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

What time the sinking sun has filled the sky 
With pulsing glories, ere he pass away, 
While star wakes star with trembling silver 

ray 
Prophetic of the midnight galaxy, 

The weary shepherd glances far on high, 
Wondering o'er what lands beyond the sun 
Shines in his fulness, — now that the day is 

done, 
Now that the light grows mute, and calm the 

eye. 

Look at the hills of death, weak flesh and 

blood, 
Draw from them strength in trial and in ease, 
Remember the beyond unknown in all 

But that each sin shall meet us by the flood 
Of gloom with fiery hand outstretched to seize 
Us by our hopes for self, to make us fall. 



SECOND HATCH OF NIGHT. 45 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

By plague, by flood, by hunger, blood, and 

fear, 
The Lord shall plead with every soul of man, 
Till He whom none can see and live, appear, 
According to His own appointed plan. 

Then shall His own new-born at last behold 
The King in all His beauty and delight, 
Midst seas of seraphim of living gold, 
Loving his love, and lightening his light. 

Cast forth into eternal solitude, 

Dark, silent, chill, forgetful and forgot, 

Dead in an everlasting bestial mood, — 

Shall souls who sinned fore'er despairing rot? 
God knows. Ah, let us love, be true, be 

pure, 
While we may change ourselves, while hopes 

endure, 



46 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

There is no death. What seems to die away 
But changes unessential form and place, 
And so-called ownership ; for God can trace 
Each love-born atom back into His day. 

For, after all, there is no good desire 

Or quality in man, that be not light 

Of God refracted through the creature's night, 

Since human life is love, and love is fire. 

No true prophetic song has ever died ; 

But journeyed on from heart to heart, from 

tear 
To tear, athwart the generations, still 

Gathering the prayers of saints from far and 

wide, 
In one great hymn that those alone can hear 
Whose only joy it is to do His Will. 



SECOND IV A TCI/ OF NIGHT. 47 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

No human soul can utterly belie 
Her destiny unceasingly to grow 
Around somewhat outside herself, and so 
To live in others, and for them to die. 

Some souls have therefore given up their will 
Unto the feverish flesh and all its lust, 
Blinding themselves to God with earthly dust, 
Till evil was their good, and good their ill. 

Some souls live in their fellow-souls 
Who live in them ; while others still endure 
The curse to see their blessings prove a 
blight. 

These are the loved of God whom He con- 
trols, 

Jealous lest they should rest in aught less 
pure, 

Than in the very fulness of His li^ht. 



48 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

Who has not heard the voices of the night 

Dying away into the midnight calm, 

When wandering winds grow weary in their 

flight, 
And sleep has silenced sorrow, strife, and 

psalm ? 

Who has not felt the hush of loneliuess 
Calming each stifling sense's feverish lust, 
Quenching each want and every bitterness 
With hope of coming rest amidst the dust ? 

That is the hour of hours, the spirit's morn, 
When man may stand erect and claim man's 

right 
To worship and adore ; when cries, upborne 

On wings of prayer may reach the throne of 

light : 
When angels hover near, nor ever cease 
To sing, to those who list, of God's great 

Peace. 



HYMNS FOR THE 
MORNING. 



THIRD WATCH OF NIGHT. 

REPENTANCE. 



First Half-Hour 12.00 m. 

Second Half-Hour 12.30 a. M'_ 

Third Half-Hour 1.00 

Fourth Half-Hour 1.30 

Fifth Half-Hour 2.00 

Sixth Half-Hour 2.30 



FOURTH WATCH OF NIGHT. 

OPPORTUNITIES. 



First Half-Hour . . . . 


.... 3.OO A.M 


Second Half-Hour . . 


.... 3.3O 


Third Half-Hour . . . 


.... 4.OO 


Fourth Half- Hour . . 


.... 4.3O 


Fifth Half-Hour . . . 


.... 5.OO 


Sixth Half-Hour . . . 


.... 5.3O 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

The ancient forest larch, whose roots strike 

deep 
Into the earth, whose crown springs star ward 

high, 
In silence waits the midnight wind to sweep 
From out its boughs dim mists of melody. 

What joy must thrill its swaying boughs to 

hear 
Waked from their dead inertia, harmonies 
They knew not they could yield, so sad and 

clear 
That die in silent, quivering ecstasies ! 

Not less does man, with feet on lifeless earth, 
With kingly heart, whose love can conquer 

pains, 
Stand mute, until, each sense at rest, 

The spirit-waves close round him, and give 

birth 
In the passive soul to long-forgotten strains 
She once had sung when on the Father's 

breast. 



5 2 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

These is no use, when fallen, to repent, 
If that repentance be but grief or shame, 
Without new works accomplished to pro- 
claim 
The past has been belied with full intent. 

Our many failings never to lament, 
And not to ask forgiveness for the same, 
But straightway every weakness to disclaim 
Would be the manliest course we could in- 
vent 

We weep at first because we try to raise 
New motives to break loose from destiny — 
We weep at last because we did succumb 

And naught but Heaven can our cause 

espouse : 
But prayer to God for help is blasphemy 
Unless determined fully to o'ercome. 



THIRD 11' A TCH OF NIGHT. 53 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

There is a fairness in the gloaming's flight 
No other hour of the day e'er knows : 
Although when in his noon the sun's deep 

glows 
Be more intense and yield more true delight. 

There is a sadness in the dying light 

A calm despair of desolate repose 

That stirs the breast much more than deeper 

throes 
Of pulsing gloom at middle of the night. 

Youth has weird glories in its weariness, 
Its bitter, living, self-controlled despair 
Which certainty shows forth as fraught with 
ill; 

There is a magic sadness in the press 
Of doubts that stifle with their lurid glare, 
Which the might of spirit-faith must scorn 
and kill. 



54 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

It was a legend of the Church of old 
That her dear Master, at the time He died 
Was past man's middle age, and thus had 

tried 
Bach fear, and proved each hope that man 

can hold. 

And thus the early fathers gladly told 

How Christ, a child, stood by the children's 

side ; 
To youths, a manly youth devoid of pride, 
To men, a man, as any free and bold. 

It is but right that each and every age 
Should perfect be, and feel the Master near ; 
Not ever reckoning some other time 

In past or future the completed stage, 
While present duty scorned, must disappear, 
And dim God's glories in their dawning 
prime. 



THIRD IV A TCH OF NIGHT. 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 



55 



"What hast thou done, soul, with all thy 

dreams, 
Thy hopes, thy aspirations, and thy prayers ? 
Hast thou dismissed them whilst oppressed 

with cares, 
As hollow sea-foam, bright with vivid 

gleams ? 

They were thy precious primal heritage, 
The warrant of thine own divinity ; 
The guides that should have found thy des- 
tiny, 
The staff and pillow of thy pilgrimage. 

"What hast thou done with all thy dreams, 

O soul, 
Thy hopes, thy aspirations, and thy prayers ? 
Until thou find them, all the world despairs, 

And thou canst never hope to reach thy goal. 
"Wake them again ! call back their glorious 

light ! 
They are thy heaven, thy sword, thy shield, 

thy might. 



56 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

For human souls each hour of conscious- 
life 
Is but an opportunity to rise 
Or fall, to learn to worship, or despise, 
To love or mock, to win or lose the strife. 

Each act is fatal, since each upward leap 
Emboldens and empowers the soul to dare 
To seek horizons wider and more fair, 
Along an easier path, although more steep.. 

Each act is fatal, since each downward fall 
Implies a long and dull forgetfulness 
Of every former certainty and might; 

Implies an utter disbelief in all 

The aims of life, in love, in tenderness, 

Resigns the soul to lust, to fear, and night- 



Here beginneth the Fourth Watch. 



FOURTH WATCH OF NIGHT. 57 



FIRST HALF-HOUR. 

The iron rock, whose crown defies the might 
Of cycled seasons through unfolding years, 
Will break to dust before a change appears 
To dwarf or magnify its glorious height. 

The sleepless ocean suffers, day and night 
From stream to cloud a round fore'er com- 
plete, 
And thus can fall and rise, and then retreat 
Ever the same, eternal, infinite. 

No fate, no astral curse, no sin-got fears 
Can predetermine that a soul should range 
The wilds of her hereditary ills : 

Begotten of herself in cycling years 

At any hour she may begin to change 

Her flesh, her mind, her spirit, as she wills. 



5 8 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SECOND HALF-HOUR. 

Without the darkness, there would be no 
light, 

Nor waking state, without a previous sleep ; 

Without the evil, none the good could reap, 

Without the sorrow, none could know de- 
light. 

Without a hell, with which to learn to fight, 
No man could conquer Heaven's rugged 

steep : 
And were not hell so infinitely deep, 
None e'er could measure Heaven's endless 

height. 

The origin of evil is as clear 

As that of good — neither exists alone ; 

If man has no free choice, he has no worth; 

And if no moral worth, he cannot fear, 

He has no hope, no palm, no crown, no 

throne : 
He has no spirit, and is merely earth. 



FOURTH WATCH OF NIGHT. 59 



THIRD HALF-HOUR. 

Although man's life maybe accounted long, 
Since oft he wearies of it ere it end, 
It is but short, for it can comprehend 
But just so many deeds, — some right, some 
wrong. 

No youth returns, no deep desire for prayer 
Unsatisfied, can wake again the sonl ; 
Each later one is sadder, and the whole 
Of life's great hope less true — more vague 
and bare. 

Wandering dreams and senselesssleep debar 
The soul from reaching out to meet 
The messengers of comfort from above : 

Which soul, when she shall pass beyond, 

one star 
The less will light, one angel less will greet, 
One smile the less of God shall calm with 

love. 



60 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



FOURTH HALF-HOUR. 

Men rarely pray but when some pressing- 
need 

Has stricken down their lusting souls with 
shame 

Or sorrow. Then, awaked, at last they claim; 

Escape from justice, and for mercy plead. 

And when their guardian angels intercede 
For them with God, for the glory of His 

name, 
They yield again to lusts they overcame, 
And drift along the tides when these recede. 

That will be heaven, when man has learnt 

to pray, 
In joy, success, delight, and happiness, 
As fervently as when in bitterest pain : 

When man has learnt to praise and to obey 

In fear, in sorrow, or in weariness, 

With love as deep as when his love was gain. 



FO i R TH 11 'A TCH OF NIGH T. 6 1 



FIFTH HALF-HOUR. 

In olden times, whene'er a man was born 
Into the world from out his mother's womb, 
The wise men stood around all wrapped in 

gloom, 
Weeping with anguish on his life's first 

morn. 

Did they not know one spirit more was torn 
From out the Father's breast to meet his 

doom, 
To make a destiny, or fill a tomb, 
•Of all his pristine beaut}' shorn ? 

Earnest and sad should be a day of birth, 
When to this crowded solitude's despair 
Infant, one more predestined god appears, 

And stakes upon his hopes his hard-earned 

worth. 
Silence ! Let prayer speed upward, future 

prayer ! 
He is arrayed in all his mother's tears. 



62 HYMNS FOR THE HOURS. 



SIXTH HALF-HOUR. 

" Rejoice," wise men of olden times did say, 
" Rejoice, ye mourners, crowding round this 

bier! " 
Death prophesies the triumph-day is near ! 
Rejoice that one more soul has passed away? 

Not that the sun shines not with golden ray 
Through azure depths in which is hid each 

sphere 
Whose lights amidst his universe appear 
When night has calmed the dream of dying 

day. 

Rejoice that one more soul has crossed the 

shore 
Into the silent land of peace, where bide 
Worn souls, until their time be all fulfilled,. 

That they may purify themselves still more !' 
But now, rejoice ! She rests, that here was. 

tried, 
Her pains have left her, and her cries are 

stilled !" 



GOING. 

At break of day we often disbelieve 
The truths we held at middle of the night : 
At noon, with passion, dare invoke a fight 
Forgot and stilled ere darkness crowns the 
eve. 

The youth will languish for the things that 

grieve 
The many tottering years of failing sight ; 
In health he labours for some wild delight 
Which sickness questions, lest its sweets 

deceive. 

Amidst these eddies of eternity, 

We strive to stand unmoved, though they 

impress 
Wrinkles of age upon our wear}' soul, 

Whose solitude becomes her destiny 
Unless she learn that all these pains express 
God's Will to those who make His love their 
goal. 



So still, in Ihy dear Hand, I lie — 
Thine own forever ; God of light; 

Li utter service to Thy Will 
By voice of day, by star of night. 

Nearer to Thee, my Destiny, 

My foy, my Crown, my Strength, my Rest; 
Drazv me to Thee that I may sleep 

Forevermore upon Thy Breast. 



UL 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

015 898 459 3 




